EESB05H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Cation-Exchange Capacity, Clay Minerals, Vermiculite
Document Summary
Components: mineral (sand, silt, clay), organic matter, water. Weathering on parent material depends on resulting products that comprise soil. Resistant primary minerals, silicate clays, other silicate clays, oxides of fe, al, organic complexes of al+3 and fe+3, silicate acid, and soluble materials. Weathering products can be broken down into 2 groups. Large products = gravel, sand, silt (which are resistant primary minerals) Parent material pulverized into smaller pieces (not a lot of chemical weathering) Smaller products = clay (which are silicate clay materials) Not just very small sand or silt particles. Primary parent material > chemically weathered > ions/chemical constituents > reconfiguration (crystallization) > result in clay mineral. Not just parent material pounded down, but physically/chemically different from parent material. When dealing with chemical properties, looking at smallest particles (clays) Colloidal fraction = all soil particles <0. 002mm in diameter. Organic (humus) colloids (c, h, o, and n) Silicate clays = plate like stacking (not seen in other soil types)